Legal Practitioners In A Militarized Democracy And What I Don’t Know By Timothy Ola Bamgboye

I honestly don’t know why any legal practitioner would vote the
ruling party in the coming election, or propagate the bad news of
Next Level despite the brazen disregard of this Government for all
known tenets of democratic rule.

While the right to vote may be every adult’s inalienable right
that he may exercise as He deems fit, I donot know how a legal
practitioner would ever forget his moral responsibility to be the
conscience of the society and be the vanguard of democratic
ethos.

I do not know why any legal practitioner will hail this
Government when its Head could assault their sensibilities at their
single largest Assembly with the notion that the rule of law should
be subservient to national security. Knowing that the implication
of this is that this Government is determined to fuse both judicial
and executive powers and arrogate same to itself, I do not know why
any legal practitioner would applaud this Government for such acts
of brigandage.

I honestly do not know why any legal practitioner would vote
this Government to power or propagate the bad news of Next Level
while Sambo Dasuki and El ZakZaky rot in jail despite multiple
Court orders admitting them to bail.

I do not know why lawyers would drum support for the return of
this Government to power while Deji Adeyanju who had been acquitted
of a charge is unconstitutionally detained for the same
offence.

I do not know.

I do not know if these lawyers missed the classes on Rule of Law
as espoused by A.V Dicey and co or Separation of Powers as
explained by philosophers like Baron de Montesquieu. Or do they
think the essence of lawyering in a democracy is not altogether
lost if these twin pillars are broken and dismantled like this
Government currently audaciously does?

I do not know if they know the characteristics of a fascist,
dictatorial, or totalitarian government and if they think these do
not define this Government, despite its disguised, democratic
costume.

I honestly do not know why a professor of Law still remains Vice
President in a militarized democracy, and is leading the campaign
for the the return of his Government, apparently to continue its
assault on democracy. I do not know why the Honourable Attorney
General of the Federation would escape being stripped of his Silk
or summarily disciplined for not turning in his resignation in the
face of the constant disregard for court orders and ridicule of the
judiciary.

I do not know why a Senior Advocate is the one championing the
re-election bid of a party with a Government that openly triffles
with due process, rule of law, and all the trappings of a
democracy.
I do not know of any just cause why every single lawyer in Nigeria
today would not vote against the ruling party in protest and exhort
others to do the same.

But what do I know?